(eToro Blog) Wall Street continues to move steadily higher. Yesterday, the NASDAQ Composite closed higher by 57.54 points, gaining 2.10% on the day to close at 2802.51 points. That made it the highest single day's gain on the tech-heavy Index in nearly half a year. Analysts specifically mention the exceptional earnings reports from Apple, maker of the extremely popular iPhone, which reported an 83% increase in sales, with profits nearly doubling from the previous year.

The company said that more than 18.65 million iPhones have been sold worldwide, several million more than analysts had predicted, and demand has seemingly not diminished. The Apple iPad, on the other hand, has not met analysts' sales expectations, even with the launch of a newer version of the tablet pc, just ahead of the quarter's end.

Some analysts suggest that manufacturing constraints could have played a part, however Apple alone didn't push the NASDAQ higher; strong earnings were also reported by web-portal Yahoo! and computer chip manufacturer Intel. Yahoo! reported that first quarter sales beat economists' forecasts, attributed to increasing advertising revenue; following the earnings report, share prices rose as much as 6.9% before slipping back to $16.87, a gain of 4.66% In pre-market trading, share prices continue to surge by as much as 5.2%. Intel reported that first quarter income rose 29% on growing demand in personal computers; in pre-market trading, Intel share prices rose as much as 7.8%.

NASDAQ futures currently are up by 0.58% trading around 2,818 with traders aiming the 3,000 trajectory.In the eToro trading floor sentiment is still mixed with 10 buyers against 9 Sellers.

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